[MOVIE] The Substance (2024)

I fucking loved it! This is a short version of the review ahaha

A fading celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself Sue (Margaret Qualley).

TW: body horror,.. lots of it. lots of gore in general. and also gross things.

Before I start I want to praise the acting which was incredible, directing is awesome, operator's work is insane, cinematography is chef's kiss, the sound effects are great (that ringing in the ears though), the music is top, the idea of putting everything almost into your face is perfect for this.

Where do I even begin with this? If one haven't seen it yet, I recommend to do it, it doesn't matter who, female audience will see a lot of what we're struggling with that can't be warpped in just a simple sentense and male audience can see the female rage that women can direct at themselves and understand better what years of "younger, more beautiful" brainwashing did to many of us.

Some may not even consider it a deep topic, but honestly if countless women suffer from body dysmorphia due to brainwahing, I think we can share some thoughts about it. It feels like many women can't accept that they're aging, because for so many years our brains were soaked in these consuming ideas that we can't simply be ourselves, we should be youthful and beautiful and then we are the most perfect existence. But what if our body is not even close to what is considered perfect? What if our face doesn't fit the standard? Can I create a better version of myself that fits? In the meantime it feels like it became scary to get older, it's scary to lose your youth, your peak time, your body starts to change in a direction you don't expect and the insecurity grows stronger. Not to mention older women, young women nowadays who are barely 20 are not afraid of doing plastic surgery, just because it's a trend, just because it's more favorable and the beauty from the IG photo whispers to you to do it (even if you know that the photo was filtered to filth). But you can be the same, right?..

I honestly really loved the idea and how it played out. Because it's so true.

Spoilers, here they come.

We start with Elisaeth who is basically fired from her position on the show on her 50th birthday (the producer has symbolic name - Harvey, I mean you couldn't be more direct), she gets a pat on the back and a bouqet of roses, with a symbolic phrase "You were amazing"

Elisabeth's career is over, so on her ways she saw how her billboard ad was torn down and this distraction caused a car accident. Breaking down in the hospital she receives a USB hidden by a male nurse, with words "It changed my life".

Although listening to the content, Elisabeth is set to throw the flash away, but the morning she finds that she not only is replaced but the newspaper also has an ad about the new show's casting (don't ask about the newspaper, it's deliberate) she decided to make the phone call.

This leads to her receiving the package, she travels to a remote place and follows the corridor to a prim and proper room with perfect renovations and several lockers (only two used). Hers is 503

(I love this homage to what will happen next, if you saw the spine on the cover, you will know)

That scene in front of the mirror, ugh, so true, nothing makes you more critical that a fluorescent light above your head that makes you see all the folds and imperfections about your body when you look at yourself naked. I applaud Moore for not being afraid to fully show herself, because the lighting and camera showed everything, the camera this time had no intention to beautify anything, it is how it is, all the folds and sagging (and let's all remind ourself, Moore is 62 as of now). Following instructions she injects the activator from The Substance kit. She thinks she's crazy but then things drastically change, in pain and agony she "births" another self (which came from the back, like a butterfly almost) and now we see Elisabeth / Moore paralized on the floor, but the one who stood is a young and beautiful woman, with amazing body. And she almost instantly starts to enjoy herself, looking from different angles, aren't they all perfect?

But the kit comes with strict instructions:

YOU ACTIVATE only once

YOU STABILIZE every day

YOU SWITCH every seven days without exception

REMEMBER YOU ARE ONE

Interestingly, Sue did not choose any other career or just enjoy life she now has in her new body, as being one she has all the aspirations that Elisabeth has, the glitz. So she auditions for the show and meets Harvey as her new self. She is set to have her own show "Pump it up". Btw the movie is full of close-ups like this:

And when the show is filmed later on, it's a lot of close-ups. The shots are aesthetic and pleasing, almost screaming "Look at this perfection". Sue gets a lot of those to bring a striking contrast to the body of Elisabeth. Because Sue is "perfect" and it boosts her confidence too.

But here's a catch, she has to switch. Note, the first switch is pretty voluntarily.

Switching back Elisabeth sees Sue for the first time, I think you could see looking almost cherishingly. But now there's another problem, since Elisabeth moved behind the scenes she actually has nothing to do. She did not make any goals for herself outside of letting Sue appear. So she spends her time watching TV, the only time she went out was to get the kit re-fill.

When Sue wakes up all young and pretty she can see that the TV is on and that the armchair feels very "used". She almost scoffs at it.

And here is where I find it fantastic in a way, Elisabeth and Sue are one and two people at the same time. But because of this the feeling of separation begins to grow stronger. So the feeling of disgust and rejection will also appear. It's almost like self-loathing, that this is my true self, some old woman, past her best years and I don't want to be like her. But she is you, you are one.

Not to get into trouble, after all there is a body lying around the house, Sue opens up a wall (very handy girl) and creates a safe room. Btw she is interrupter by a neighbors who instantly calms down when he sees Sue in person, all his rage at the noisy neighbor disappears with appearance of the beauty.

Sue drags Elisabeth into the safe room and starts her days. Enjoying the new billboard advertisement with herself that is right in front of the window, a symbolic reminder all day long.

Honestly, you really must be confident to pull what Qualley can do, all those close up during filming of the show. And after filming she comes out to have a good time wearing a tight bodysuit and high heels.

And here is the first time that Sue gets late to switch due to her partying and not wanting to miss sex with a young hot guy. So she drains more stabilizer above the normal dose. Stabilizer is Elisabeth's spine liquid.

When Elisabeth wakes up all she sees are the after party mess, but it's not the only thing - her finger is now aged. (Praising the sfx department, they outdid themselves in this movie).

This old skin is not an illusion, so Elisabeth makes a call, but the answer is - what is taken, can't be returned. Basically, she can't control when the other part of her decides to drain her spine liquid to prolong the number of days outside without switching.

But does Elisabeth decide to stop? She does not. Even knowing the risk she continues. She cleans up the mess and sees the new show on TV with Sue's close-ups. It's such a complicated look. As if deeply inside there is a brewing thought - You exist because of me, your beauty is taken from me, everything you have is mine, but she still can't let go. Unlike Sue, Elisabeth can not stabilize herself and exist longer, so she has to switch no matter what.

Elisabeth again travels for the refill kit, but this time she meets a person, the owner of the other locker, number 207, and she is reminded of the young male nurse, but the old man asked her about still mattering in this life and also if the other half started "eating her"?

And here I think of that fascinating small note that will be shown later on the fridge (screenshot above) - It changed my life - but whose life did it change? It actually changed the younger sef's life, not the original. I love that this part is so tricky.

To prove to herself that she still exists, that she's still there Elisabeth finds a phone number of a man who asked her out, someone from school. So she dresses up and puts on make-up, but before going out she stops and looks at the Sue outside the window, thus after overfixating on herself and how she looks, changes her lipstick, adds gloss, changes again, adds blush, then she's dissatisfied with how her chest looks like in a dress and covers it up, but then when she sees herself again she basically gives up. her date asks if she's late or anything wrong, but Elisabeth just sits there with a feeling of brokenness.

The scene is actually amazing, so much hate is directed at yourself in the mirror, almost paranoid.

Moore totally didn't spare herself.

She turns to food. Which is symbolic to many people turning to food for comfort.

Ngl the food is presented in this movie in such a way that it will make you feel uncomfortable, but that's the catch.

Sue saw a nightmare as if she took a chicken drumstick from her body and woke up to whole chiken eaten by Elisabeth and only the bones left behind.

Sue makes a call and is outraged that she has not enough time as herself, but Elisabeth does nothing, there is so much disgust in those words, as if she matters, but Elisabeth now doesn't. But she can't change the process.

She finds that the studio is not ready, she is afraid being let go aagin, tears in her eyes, as if it's the most that matters, but Harvey says the show had tremendous success and they will get her new time slot and will let her host a New Year's show.

Thus for Sue her career is more important than any balance, she starts to extracting more and more "stabilizer" and promises each time "It's the last day, I promise" and also tells about her progress as a rising star.

The scene with taking the spinal fluid is very body horror trigger warning all over the place, because the injection place starts to get almost like infected. Ah, scary.

But the one who is scared the most is Elisabeth who realized that Sue did not care about her at all and did not change for much longer than the last time. Now half her body is of that of an old woman.

Again, sfx team, props to them and also Moore is not scared to play at all.

But even if she's bitter and angry and sarcastic and is enraged at Sue on TV show who also points at her in a sarcastic way, while answering and even if Elisabeth is asked by the operator if she wants to terminate, Elisabeth does not terminate. She can't terminate, after all that beautiful part of herself exists and she can't let it go. Yet it doesn't mean she is not angry. The TV show interview with Sue makes her so angry that she makes a whole mess of the apartment making the woken up Sue enraged to such extent that she completely disregards the consequences and drains a full load of spinal liquid from Elisabeth. She doesn't want to switch anymore. And thinks she'll be fine.

3 months later she is ready to host the New Year's show, goes to inject the stabilizers but find that her stash is empty, unbothered she enters the safe room which is filled with packages of "food matrix" that are supposed to be for her and Elisabeth, but we do not see the body, yet we see Sue who had not taken any more liquid.

She calls and gets an answer that without switching there will be no regeneration of the spinal liquid, but it's a critical moment for her. But she has no other option but to switch.

And now we see Elisabeth. Boy what a view, they went all out on that bodysuit, it's a bit funny ngl. So Elisabeth is now a deformed hunched old lady. She is now completely ruined.

She makes a decision to finally terminate. But during the process she again sees the new poster outside with the upcoming NY show and half through the process she stops and tries to revive Sue, she is successful, but Sue who saw the half-empty syringe is the most outraged and in the process brutally kills Elisabeth (interestingly Elisabeth doesn't put up a fight, but only defends). Feeling after that something is wrong with her body she stops. We again see the reminder of "You are one".

This is the evening of the New Year show and Sue gets ready, but again hears the ringing in her ears and can barely concentrate, something is definitely wrong with her body. Left alone she sees herself getting worse, almost desintegrating. Afraid she runs back to grab the "activator" (that funny green liquid) in an attempt to make a copy of herself, but activator only for the original and for one use only, what comes out of Sue is a morphed version of some body monster. Elisasue get ready for the evening, they re-arrange the dress, also put the jewellery on, maybe the first time they look in the mirror normally. She cuts out the Elisabeth's face from the big portrait and sticks it on herself, this is me. She goes to the venue and is met by people, as if they don't see her behind that obvious mask and she goes on stage letting others see what she looks like.

The audience is scared and hates her instantly and wants to get rid of her.

TW: Too much of blood lol. But that gush of fake of blood as the responsive violence to audience's hate is something else. I bet they had lots of fun.

FInally Elisasue leaves and falls apart on the street, the last bit of her, Elisabeth's face that was part of the morphed person almost crawls to the thing we saw first in the movie, her star on the walk of fame.

She finally disappears when she reached the moment when she is truly free.

The movie is so grotesque, it's definitely not for those with weak stomachs, but at the same time so vocal about the issues it presents.

It's interesting to see that both parts basically hate each other, despite the fact that they are the same person, but one sees value in the other or more like wants to prolong that life through the other part, while the other part disdains the original for being a drag. It's such a vivid inner conflict and the final freedom.

RATE: 9/10. Shaving one star for the gore, although I know and understand the idea why it was done, but I truly lost my appetite after watching ahahaha

[MOVIE] Dinner in America (2020)

An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman obsessed with his band unexpectedly fall in love and go on an epic journey together through America's decaying Midwestern suburbs.

-IMDb

This movie is said to have a surprising fate, with its initial release in 2020 when pandemic was the most rampant, then getting additional screening time and in 2024 because of trending on TikTok of the main theme song "Watermelon" the movie gained another wave of popularity.

Being honest my process of watching was deeply influenced by watching a review by Amanda the Jedi, who promoted this movie from back in 2020 and released a new video, because of the movie getting another screening time.

And I really liked it.

Maybe because it's such a tender and pure story between two individuals who "don't fit", maybe it's the wonderful actor's play. Maybe it's the idea that they fell in love without looking at each other's looks, but truly liked each other as human beings. 

No honestly the actors were amazing. Emily Skeggs as Patty was fantastic, her interpretation as this outcast-ish girl, her behavior and mimics. I think she nailed it. Her image is that of not conventionally attractive young woman, who is bullied by some tracksuit assholes, gets annoyed by her family, but her best part in life is a punk rock group Psyops she follows and sends love letters to their vocalist.

On the other hand is Kyle Gallner, who looks like a live version of musketeer in real life, but his role of Simon is always full of rage and raw emotion and aggression. Some may not like him, but it's the type of person who shows too much and makes you uncomfortable by oppressing you emotionally. But despite questionables sides of his character, he appreciates Patty and lashes out at anyone who humiliates her.

They can be called a weird couple, but there is something so authentic about their relationship that I can't help but call them cute. Despite the premise of the movie and storyline they managed to be more romantic than many romcoms of nowadays. 

Because many girls that are out there are Patty and they also need their own Simon who appreciates them for who they truly are.

I sometimes find myself thinking that actors in small movies like this can be more impressive to me than some big name celebs..

Anyway recommended.

RATE: 8/10. 

[Donghua] Slay The Gods. Season 1

Beats me why YT decided to recommend Chinese animation / donghua, but nevertheless I watched Slay The Gods ep1-15 almost in one seating. And what can I say? The idea behind it is weird, but animation is like an extensive game ad, because the animation models remind me a lot of all the Chinese games, plus this is so action jampacked that it's insane. It feels like I go from one action scene to another without a stop. Plus let's be honest, some of editing and transitions are done beautifully and it looks very cool. Action itself leaves you with no time to think, it's like I live in sfx and slowmo and ignore that some of the story feels coppy, lacks depth and background story. All in all great experience. I decided to check out other ones that are available when I have time + mood.

Storyline: Little Lin Qiye gazing at the night sky suddenly found himself gazing at a mysterious figure that looked back, that was Michael. Small Qiye's became blind, but not blind in a common sense, he actually could see everything through his mental sense, but he did not open his eyes. He lives in Daxia, which is now surrounded by mysterious fog, because of his experience he spent time in a mental institution, but to live a normal life and survive he refused to admit that any mythical creatures exist and bury the secret of seeing them deep down. That he dreams the same dream, knocking on the same door with a sign God's Asylum. Then one evening coming across some dangerous creatures his call was answered and he awakened his power as diety proxy.

I honestly have no idea where the God's aylum idea came from, after all it felt weird that basically MMC has this thing in his head? Anyway, no one see it, it's like inside his consciousness. But he's just a teen and no he finds out that each room has someone with "issues" like the goddess Nyx, then helping her will allow him to get more and more powers. Like why these gods are in asylum number one.

But the rest of the story is okay. We have this mysterious fog and mythical creatures and gods, all except Chinese ones for some reason. We also have an organization of Night Watchers who control the outbreak of monsters. They are people who can use forbidden ruins, more like some cool item that can grant them powers, but not all can have them, only talented ones I guess who awaken this stuff. There is of course a villain organization, a bunch of God Church lunatics that worship three most vile gods there are, they also target Qiye, because he's a diety proxy, which is a step above others. Plus he can help gods and gain their powers, which is even cooler. Very overpowered MMC, but how else he will deal with others.

[SHORT REVIEWS] #17

一心摆烂的恋综女配[快穿] by 虹桃子

(mtl: Female suppoting role in the love variety shows who decided to act badly)

[BG] On-going. Summary: Lin Enjing is captured by the system because she is "capable" and is offered to travel worlds and save the wronged cannon fodders. Because she herself is one, she paved her own way from poverty to being a wife of a wealthy husband, but soon her husband will cheat on her with White Moonlight and she is a hated character. While Lin Enjing herself doesn't mind, husband's company is full of her own people, it's not certain who owns the company. She felt that travelling worlds will help her accumulate the experience, so she agreed.

You could call it a story of a leech. Because this is how I viewed the FMC by the end of the first arc/world. There is a big difference between a cold-hearted person who is cool and a selfish bitch that smooches off others and even applies their achievements to herself. She uses everyone's feelings for her own boost in life and her own satisfaction, highly egoistic personality that proclaims to love freedom, but just has no responsibility except for herself. Even if the author warns you that FMC is a "bad" woman and you need to watch out if you're a moralist, but she has no redeeming qualities to handle the image of this femme fatale.

What is annoying is the portrayal of FMC, there is nothing eye-catching except that probably her farts smell better for all males and even if she turns, moves or breathes is a "moment" and they can't help but notice her. Some people do have a tempting temperament, but honestly the males figured her out that she's a "bad" woman, but they are still tempted by her and can't help but dry like a laundry under the summer sun after her till the end of times. To make her look not as bad by the contrast a lot of love she receives is also interspersed with possessiveness, as if those males are also not perfect. But she's an emotional scum and this is why I don't like such FMC.

The other big problem is the format and style and the writing and the plot...meaning, everything is so-so. Arcs are long, uneventful, but we should be ready to be impressed by FMC doing basic shit. Because every arc is a variety show where FMC tries to change the destiny of original host. It is said she plays "badly" but actually she is reactional in terms of changing her own image and make it better, you can feel that she basically used everything at her disposal to promote her own career. She used men and their knowledge to use it for her own business growth. There is a black technology (another point I want to slap author in the face with words like - you don't know what to write about, then don't write - since it's such a brain-dead utopian description of some things I'm surprised the author decided to touch) that is developed by one of the males, but it was used for her company and even if you know the person might get a kick off of it, it still had a sacrificial feel. She dates one person, then marries another, then can divorce if she doesn't like something. As I said she is a pure egoist, so you won't be able to wait for a compromise from her.

I've read a conclusion of the second arc (honestly they have the same style, almost a summary-type of chapters of what happened after the show) and it is still the same patterns, dates one, marries another, uses men to become first in the world as this and this, but her knowledge come not from her own years of experiments, but from everything she got from men. But she has such a style like she deserves it all, they gave it her and it was fine. Another angle to catch her pure selfishness.

But honestly I couldn't care less about the technology, it was such a sharp twist from her wanting just to create a 3D game and the it progressed so much that they created virtual reality and people transferred their consciousness into it, like (?_?) miss mam, do you have any idea what you talk about? It may sound cool, to a kid, but can you imagine this bs in real life?

Anyway, I was impressed.

Status: DNF with a speed of sound.

我的巨富妈妈[快穿] by 危酒

(mtl: I have a super rich mom)

[BG] Completed. Summary: Zhong Chu as a gold employee of the Quick Transmigration Department is tasked with the savior of some cannon fodders and her role is their "mom".

Another embarrassing garbage. I'd say abomination. I'm so critical because the first arc is unnecessary xenophobic from the get-go. Not to mention that this story is not anything exciting and I found it pretty boring. OP FMC who has a super rich system always has a chance to get rich in each world, she either has a personality that is adjusted by the system that can be tempered with or she gets a lucky chance (like a lottery) so she can become rich in a second. The way they showcase the getting rich process is another topic. It is also brainlesslu Su. Just to make an example. First world starts from a disaster relief. The one she needs to protect is a kid who lost his entire family. She is a heir to some huge wealth with tenths of hospitals abroad and all other stuff at her disposal, she appears like with the scene of great number of helicopters flying. She was abroad? And then she quickly appeared at the disaster place? And they released some black technology of some saving robots, so of course this is where xenophobic part starts, as if the country she came from (no need to play dumb to figure out analogy) is making a fuss during the sacing operation okay? Anyway. All those helicopters flying and saving people, all the personnel is tranformed here and they worked 24/7 and became big saviors. The kid she needs to save become her only "relative". I stopped reading from there, not to mention I was not impressed by xenophobic moods, but also it felt just too stupid.

Status: DNF.

穿成豪门后爸我哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈 by 忘书

(mtl: Wearing a rich stepfather hahahahaha)

[BL] Completed. Summary: After waking up Xi Ling figured he's a vicious stepfather in a novel, a cannon fodder character who abused his stepson, while his husband was away and stepson grew into the vicious villain and offed his own stepfather first on the list. But Xi Ling who had been poor saw all the money and thought - how could it is to be rich? I have a cute son, my husband is a walking ATM and I can wake up laughing ahahahaha.

I will say right away, for me it was too much. 

First of all I didn't like the style and portrayal. The storyline often jumped from something serious into some extreme comedy in the span of a sentence, it was awkward to see some serious or should-be-touching moment ending up with something ridiculous. Even their intimacy became a butt of the joke and I don't mention the description is just so meh.

Character portrayal suffered from this too. Like Xi Ling should be silly and positive goose that is always smiling and always optimistic. Sounds good. But this silliness is brought to extreme sometimes. Also the storyline affected character a lot, because author tried to do a salto.

I'm spoiling the entire thing. What I say too much is that Xi Ling believes that he is from another world and this is a book. But then he has dreams he does not remeber of course that vaguely tell him the story of him and ML. The truth is after Xi Ling was born in mountains and was seen by kid ML, they became friends. But ML's family isn't simple and we find out that Xi Ling was trafficked by his own parents after instigation, he had a fever and a hit on the head, this is why he might have forgotten his own parents, new adoptive parents did not treat him well too (basic situation when a kid is brought in but like the next year the couple gives birth to their own son). So Xi Ling escapes when he became an adult and lives in some deserted factory. Where he meets kidnapped ML (what a coincidence), but then he is hit on the head (again). When the story starts he is a poor worker with no education, he again had a hit on the head which "woke him up" and he is baffled how he could be this gambling jerk who is stuck to his sister (so you can guess that he and bad Xi Ling switched places for few years and then Xi Ling returns into his original body). Do you know how the memory finally returned? I will let you guess, it is connected with hitting your head. So it helped Xi Ling remember all his memories of this world. But too much hitting on the head for a single story. Then this is not the end. ML Huo Siyi is supposed to be the child of the Huo family, but there is enmity and he is considered illegitimate, but then we find out that Huo family has some black dealings (I think like growing clones, some black lab) and partially Mrs Huo aquised to it because her own children were weak. And there is a hint that Huo Siyi is the same experimental object, because he has several "defects", for examle like with emotions, but health-wise he faints at the sight of blood (which was made into the joke a lot..). Huo Siyi was targetted by his morbid brother, Xi Ling was trafficked because of his instigation and basically all the blackening and other things happened because of this brother, so the story has such crazy parts.

But do you think it's just that simple crazy, it's not over yet. The child - baby villain- belongs to another family completely, but everyone thinks he belongs to ML before the truth comes out. But this also starts another chain effect, because Xi Ling does not belong to the mountain village family at all, he was trafficked 2 times! His family is a couple Cen who came for baby villain but found Xi Ling who looks like his mother when she was young, they do a test and bam Xi Ling is their biological son, baby villain was crated from the stem cells of their daughter (Xi Ling's biological sister) so now they're not only adoptive family, but biological uncle and nephew. The original protagonist who is now a baby too and took part in a baby show with Xi Ling and baby villain is actually a blood relative too, because his father is Cen coupl younger brother, but this brother is worse than a beast, in original story to consolidate his position he took the child forecefully, allowed his little lover to bully the father of his child (yeah mpreg). But he was also the one who designed the car accident when Xi Ling was a child and was sold off by his subordinate. So there's a lot to unpack, but I think it's really too many twists and turns for one story. Not to mention some baby parts are good and lovely, other parts jump around from serious to jokes and it's tiring to read it like that.

Another annoying part is the internet barrage, boy I hate this stuff in novels, because Xi Ling is fully black at the beginning, everyone is like a rumonmonger without a brain. But Huo Siyi and Xi Ling don't clarify (which felt weird at first but then the explanation arrived later) and rumors became so exaggerated. In the end Xi Ling does change his character and people notice changes and then the opinion about him is subverted. But the next thing you know even his own husband is considered a lover, because everyone only heard rumors with no evidence but they still believed that Huo Siyi is some old dude... I mean even one cell can do better than this.

I just feels it's such a pity, some of this story had potential to be better, but the writing is just that.

Status: skimmed through and threw it away.

相亲当天错选星际最强Alpha后 by 且拂

(mtl: Choosing the strongest Alpha on the blind date by mistake)

[BL] Completed. Summary: Ji Anli lived a prosperous life before a disaster. After he turned 18 his parents disappeared, his uncle seized the power and also his report as Omega was funky. His cousin stepped on him and his fiance turned to his cousin. But then he changed into 3S-level Omega and top leaders attached great importance to Ji Anli, so they decided to get together all the top Alphas on a blind date. But Ji Anli saved someone before coming to blind date, someone who was not included. Both reached agreement, Ji Anli helps deal Lin Jing not to get out of control and in return he got the strongest Alpha.

This deserves the line from a song titled "Bored" by Laufey. "Baby, I'm bored~".

You have no idea, I felt like I'm that image of Tom who tries to stick matches into eyelids to prevent them from closing. This was so unimaginably boring to read that I can't even convey the level. Although it felt like nothing bad is actually happening and you can read it with ease, but I still couldn't help myself from falling asleep from it.

Status: DNF.

Maybe it's wrong to call them all 'evil' but the first two are definitely are, the third is a missed opportunity to me and the last just brings boredom. It feels like there is no new worthy catch came my way for a period of time. Maybe time to switch gears again.

[MUSIC] aespa - Whiplash

 

This is fancy and interesting. Their MVs get better and better each time, but still follow their concept.

[Chinese BG novel] 谢当年不娶之恩[快穿] by 兰桂 / Thank you for not marrying me back then

Summary: Rong Xuan was a demon cultivator who was deceived and killed by the person she considered the closest, he also destroyed her entire clan and she witnessed the death of her relatives with her own eyes, she was caught by a system when she self-destructed. System helped her to cope with her hatred and offered a deal to travel worlds and help people who will give her a wisp of their soul so she can recuperate and return to her original world. Rong Xuan agreed. From world to world she traveled to save the wronged girls and slowly turn the tables around, she helped them deal with scum and slap their faces.

Note 1: I find it weird that this was in the "romance" category, usually such revenge plots belong to NoCP, because FMCs do not fall in love, but authors are afraid that less people will read these, so they change the tag. Rong Xuan is not romancing with anyone. So don't wait for it. She also has a good reason for that.

Note 2: Both Rong Xuan and her client, who also has RongXuan as their name (they have different last names) exist as two souls in the same body during the task, this is how Rong Xuan protects them and changes their fate in front of their eyes. This part is quite healing in a way. Many client have traumatic experiences, so they choose not to have relationships, only a handful of times they decided to have relationships after Rong Xuan leaves (this is also the reason why no one does it) but I think only once in ancient plane she got together with someone as them two, if I'm not wrong she might have still been there when a child was conceived.

Note 3: There is a big misleading misconception in the original summary to me, which claims that her "husband" who killed her is the "son of luck", which is untrue and also illogical with what author wrote in the end.

I'm going to spoiler the heck out of this novel, from the very beginning, because I felt so tedious when I finally finished it that I felt vengeful lol.

So let me collect myself and explain the whole idea in a bulk, because you get this information only at the very end when FMC returns to her own world and finds out the truth.

This is the full chain of action and consequences:

The Buddhist ancestor proclaimed that the person who will save the world appeared, but at this time he looked at a man named Gu Yunxiu ➡️ Gu Yunxiu belongs to a righteous sect and his parents were "murdered" by the demon cultivator in a secret realm, this is his reason for revenge and he also believed that he is the one who will save the world because the Buddhist monk looked at him ➡️ Gu Yunxiu practiced ruthless way, the one we know from many stories where a person kills off all his beloved ones and relatives to cut off emotions, shit like that ➡️ He made Rong Xuan (FMC) fall in love with him, but she belonged to demon cultivators and her father is believed to kill Yunxiu's parents ➡️ In the name of the righteous way he conspired with his master to defeat the demon cultivators and using the fact that Rong Xuan was not as strong as them and was tortured, which led to demon cultivator loss of morale their secrets being discovered and demon clan erradicated, this is the point where Rong Xuan blew herself up with hatred, but only hurt Gu Yunxiu and did not kill him, this is the moment when the "system" caught her and allowed her to go through reincarnations and return to her original world right when the battle was about to begin ➡️ Rong Xuan turned the tide around and thanks to the experience of her last lives and her understanding of the world she led her demon cultivators into new prosperity with her new understanding of right and wrong (basically it's nothing more but accepting that things should be fair, be it a demon or a monk, they should be treated equally, if they do evil or if they do good, but the "righteous way" always preached that all demons are bad and a lot of evil and dirt water was poured on them and they took the blame, this image is hard to change but not impossible, this is why Rong Xuan led her people to change the image first and then confront the righteous way) ➡️ Because of her understanding and influence the demon sect changed a lot and many received the same enlightment as other, but there was still a bunch of people who stuck to the old ways and Gu Yunxiu despite falling down from the altar insisted of going against Rong Xuan and demons, but the demon cultivators won and the truth was revealed during the battle, that Rong Xuan is the one who will save the world, the wisp of the ancestor's soul shared this past and he looked at Yunxiu only because he saw Rong Xuan through him, saw that she will be defeated, reincarnated, become better and return to save their world. but these secrets could not be told. And the reason behind Yunxiu's revenge is even more ridiculous, because his parents were the ones who ambushed Rong Xuan's mother in the secret realm and wounded her, but they were noticed by Rong Xiao, FMC's father, who retaliated against the couple, the only thing that left was the treasure Rong Xuan's mother got, which now became her natal weapon, but it was actually pretenting to be the "system". But the couple actually did not die, they were killed by their fellow disciple and were robbed. This disciple became the sect's master and also Yunxiu's master, so the killer was always close.

You can see the arcs as FMC's reincarnation, but those are reincarnations filled with pain and grief, so she goes through these worlds and helps og hosts (actually herself) and both grow slowly to reach enlightment and see a path towards a different life, this is why she slowly turns from revenge to another path.

But to be honest I think it's my own description that makes this novel sound cooler than it is, because there are several deep flaws in it and actually parts that I found quite funny and hypocritical.

There is no deep emphasis on her changes or growth, FMC basically has a few moments when system says in each world - Sister Xuan, have you noticed that you started to be interested in things not because they were needed by the task, but because it's your own interest. From that point indeed FMC started more or less a studious path and she felt more "enlightened", even second to last world which also had cultivation world we finally had a name for the person who made Rong Xuan into this and she also started to look at the situation differently, anylizing why he did what he did, because this world had also a person who learnt the ruthless path, but it wasn't connected to killing all relatives, it's just to devoid yourself of emotions, dedicate yourself to cultivation but not to mix right and wrong (like Gu Yunxiu did the killing in the name of ruthless path etc.).

Another part that I found funny how someone, maybe that Bugghist monk, said about Rong Xuan that she became open-minded. Maybe she indeed feels like that at the end of the book, but if you look at all her methods she used during those worlds, she is far from being open-minded. Sometimes I felt that author knows nothing but portraying each and every situation in a similar way, this is why by at least last 1/3 of the book I was BORED. Each world had this poor little girl (not all of them suffered because of being silly, there are indeed troublesome situations) who suffered the consequences either of betrayal or something similar would find herself in quagmire and Rong Xuan is the one who opens the path for them and draws another type of path and world in front of them, which allows the og host to find the confidence again and lead a new life. But the situations are so similar to each other in its' core that it became quite tedious, no matter how settings changed it felt like the same story over and over again. Sometimes it felt like author just goes on a crazy rampage. But because the scenarios were the same, the way of dealing with the situation became the same and it felt like the actions were justified, yet you still have the lingering feeling of cruelty, as if you want to ask - was there no other way to change it? Or do readers eat this up? Judging by the rank of this novel, which I find quite high (172nd) that they eat it up a lot, but there is just over a hundred people who rated, which compared to other novels feels like not much. Not saying anything that ranks were pushed and not muddying the water, it's just stating facts. 

My stance is still the same, I still find her ways quite cruel. The justification of all her actions is the cruelty that og client suffered and the portrayal, which is always the same. Author makes everyone the top of the scum pyramid, so you will feel that what Rong Xuan does is cool, but it makes the story repetitive and the feeling of coolness growing into something else. I tell you, if you read this durig publication it might be feeling better, but if you read it all together it suffers from its' style.

A note on the open-mindedness. This might not compare, but I always remember an arc from some novel (it's futile to remember which one) where the story goes as follows. There is a reorganized family, both parents have a daughter, but one is sensible FMC and the other is a rebellious one that always brings troubles to her family. Her life is like a rich novel (which is a novel actually) where she falls in love with two man, one is an academic god and another is a "bad boy" at school, both have good backgrounds and they love and hate during entire school years, but this brought a lot of distress to the family. This girl believed her family didn't care but never looked how every time the family accomodates her in everything. They don't insist on her studies, on anything, in the end she had a good relationship with a rich boyfriend, but her family was left behind because she had this deep-seated prejudice that her mother betrayed her dead father and new father never liked her. OG host asked FMC to let her change fate, she just wants to study well and support her family later, nothing fancy. And you know what FMC did? She distanced herself from this step-sister and never cared about her situation, because she knew if she got involved she would just get hurt for no reason and will have no place to cry. They existed as parallel lines and the girl with her love and hate all the time did not get good education, all those feelings were like a novel but what did it matter, it was her own life and she never grew up, FMC was the pride of her family instead, but she never used anything against her step-sister, this was open-minded. 

In many cases during reading this novel I saw that potentially Rong Xuan could leave the situation and the other party will self-destruct in the end. But Rong Xuan never leaves anyone alone. Maybe it's the right thing to someone. I don't mind when it's really the case, because some stick to Rong Xuan and it's like you go down or I, this mountain allows only one tiger to exist shit like that, but not all situations felt like that.

Another critique is that this novel has a lot of convenience in it, it glosses over a lot of stuff, you feel that many things would not follow this path, but it's convenient for the heroine, so who cares, right?

 

If you want to be super spoilered, here we go:

ARC 1: RX is a vase queen, she signed unfavorable contract allowing her agency to use her for cash grab, but she did it so her bf would have opportunities, the guy betrayed her with another small florette they called "little RongXuan". This is where RX learnt acting skills for the rest of her journey. She started counterattack at an acting show, then sowed seed of doubt about her bf and eventually the truth resurfaced, of course everyone chased after her ex and florette.

ARC 2: RX is an unloved daughter in a wealthy family, because she was kidnapped with her brother but her twin fell to his death and she was rescued, she was a couple with the boy who saved her. But after 10 years of relationships the guy fell with a Cinderella. But because of the family crisis he used ways to bind RX to himself yet he considered that he hated RX and she was stumbling block in front of his sweetheart. Later he used means to send her to a mental instituation. So OG hated fiance and her family too. RX turned the tide at the engagement party, became an independent woman who loved business (here RX learns business) and became close to her father (who wanted a boy to inherit), because of her move the fiance family fell into crisis, no love was enough to save them, even the "loving" couple fell into self-doubt. RX grew her power, used hostility of two brothers to go against each other and anger the He father (I say, convenience), so she took action after He father fell, she annexed her fiance's company too, others were afraid of her and she taught them - if you're good, you're still prosperous, if you're bad, I'll make you disappear, so some relatives like half-sisters were the first to wake up and be their own wealthy ladies. And her brothers were no match for her.

ARC 3: RX was taken away maliciously as a child, she has a twin sister. She grew up in a small place with her unkind mother, she wanted to become a doctor for her. When she became a student she became close to a lecturing doctor who later chased her. Happens she has a twin who is in really bad health and needs a kidney, her family showed kindness and basically talked her into becoming a donor, but her health very quickly deteriorated and she also knew that the promise of her "bf" is false, he always liked her twin-sister. (always baffles me why people like someone as a patient, they might not look the best and also may not be best people too, after all he performed operation himself and did a lot of bad things, but his sweetheart was like "yeah go for it", so it's goodbye to marality all around). RX refused the operation and disclosed the truth of their relationship to others, so it sparkled a contraversy that if a doctor can do something during operation isn't it scary? RX became an exchange student and started to study modern medicine. She also became famous for her treatment plan she proposed. Again I feel a bit annoyed how everyone has to climb the top of the world for some reason, but of course she studied "kidney disease" plan. Her family affairs were always a center of attention and no plan of destroying her reputation worked, she also diagnosed her sister and she couldn't help her (her demon cultivator self could, but it's beyond the scope of this world), many specialists agreed, so basically the family fell.

ARC 4: Here RX was deceived by an educated youth. he used her as means to return to the city, his family used her as a worker/nanny, she wasn't even officially a wife, so when she saw him with another woman she was trafficked. Og RX died while running away. She changed ways and basically framed this good man with his sweetheart who was also an educated youth in the same brigade. This is the first family I think where everyone truly loves og RX. If I'm not wrong RX decided to learn agriculture at first and make contribution to her place, then their place grew and became better, her dad became a head of this village and she inherited his position and climbed the ladder, she helped a lot of women to be educated in law, saved many women from unfortunate marriages. She also solved the place where she was trafficked in last life. Again, became a big person in the eyes of many women. But because of her manipulations with her ex's family their entire family either entered the game because of bribes or had similar fate.

ARC 5: General's daughter. Here RX is an orphaned daughter of several generations of loyal generals, but they fell in the battle. Her fiance is a disciple of her family and promised to take care of her, but he returned with new woman though their motto is to marry one wife and she did not want anyone else. Her reputation was tarnished by her fiance's family and she was also ruined in the end and accepted as a torn shoe. RX saw that this family had connections to the current royal family and all seemed like a big trap for her. She escaped all traps and started to expand her power. She started from contacting those who knew her family, started by hiring loyal people who trained and hired others, they became a small network who did things for her. On the surface she continued to be on good terms with others, exanded her good reputation, but her moves proved that emperor is not really afraid of her family, but also covers up after his princes and her fiance belongs to one of them. She also thought that the situation at the border and all exploits of her fiance feel like a fake and collusion with the enemy. She herself is targetted for her money by him, even the girl that was brought in is the same. To escape she offered herself as bride to grassland, since she was granted a title of the princess for her meritorious deeds. She moved to grassland while her people kept in touch and started to make moves in the country. She brought prosperity to grassland and many decided to follow her and she defeated others who were against her. Her "husband" fell down and she became the ruler sent by God. Because of the restless situation in the country she moved with her forces to overthrow the existing emperor. It had a lot of tricks here, so it was a fine arc, also a long one. In the end she came as a ruler herself and started a prosperous age, it also helped many women to come out of their oppression, so it was quite a time to be alive for others. Of course the family of her fiance fell down. Not to mention it was proven that the guy indeed colluded with enemy for more exploits and to return with "glory".

ARC 6: Here RX has unfortunate father that was sentenced, thus she became a bag for beating in her family, only studying helped, but the infamy followed quite a lot, so she became sensitive. She worked hard and studied to pay off her blood-sucking grandparents. But her classmate played a joke on her pretending to fall in love with her and laughed with his friends, later they started bullying her all the way before graduation, but she had no evidence. Now RX had evidence, next day she was hit in the eye and doctor claimed she's now blind, the situation escalated from bullying to harming others and she exposed them for their "prank", many participants did not find anything wrong in their actions, so the situation escalated slowly. RX refused to reconcile, moved her household registration from her family that wanted to take money on her behalf. Anyway this episode was covered on the hot search, although it was negative at first RX turned tides and it bit them back. RX basically made the situation into dog bites dog between several people from rich families. She herself continued to study and become better. Those who admitted their mistakes did better, those who did not of course ended up badly. The one who hurt her was sentenced, other were transferred and did not study well and also their families targetted each other. In the end RX studied law.

ARC 7: End of the world arc, which I skipped. It's basically a reborn person who wanted to grab other person's things and make RX poor in the end. Instead she made others more miserable and herself. I read like last few chapters, not inetersted.

ARC 8: PUA girlfriend. Her bf is a psychologist, she is an orphan and also was easy to control, then he met his ex and decided to reconcile when his situation got better so he dumped his gf without saying proper goodbye and they "should be adults and be decent". RX played a role here and brought this matter to public eye, she also got best treatment (more like og RX got treatment, while RX herself studied psychology, it's from this arc when system started to say she changed and started to get interested in things outside the task). OG RX got better, her diagnosis was published, her story was covered and people witessed the worst parts of her state and recovery too. She started doing small things with few adopted dogs. It developed into a small business. But actually in afterwords it was said she became a kindergarten teacher as she always dreamed while it felt a bit far-fetched.

ARC 9: This one was instantly crazy tbh. It tells a story of ambitious wife from a small village, who hooked up with a wealthy Hong Kong dude, to show she's a good mom she also took her daughter. But pleased her husband and stepson, disregarding that her daughter was bullied by stepson. When OG RX grew up she was raped by this stepson, but her mother did not intervene when she heard her screams, she lived in DV for ten years as a beating bag for any inconvenience her fake bf felt, eventually she was beaten to death. Her mother many times tried to talk her out of filing a complaint, especially when she had a chance when her leg was broken, her mother broke her promise and she became numb. This is the arc where I think events are a bit crazier for some reason. The chain reaction was as follows, instead of herself she shoved her mother who was raped by her stepson, she also added a medicine for pregnancy. Because of family business her mother did not file complaint but also became pregnant, so she will give birth to uncles and nieces. And she couldn't abort, otherwise she will die. Because of RX's "instigation" the not so smart village wife who knows not much about scheming and means thought she was over at first, then she tried to please her husband, but that one was disgusted with her and then she tried to redirect her step-son on her daughter (this is why she brought her in the first place anyway), but her daughter chose a star life and was under protection of a big boss (nothing bad, just an aged gangster who found RX intriguing as an elder), so she was untouchable. Instead he got into trouble. Again under "devil's whisper" mom decided that all her kids will be heirs, what is she afraid, she will be on top, so she cut off the step-son's manhood (I think it should be impossible to cut off? I think it was joust a fatal wound to reproduction..what do I know) and she escaped.. so far. But it did not bring any long lasting comfort, she started thinking how to get rid of others. Because everyone treated her just as a reproduction system. She instigated stepson to go against his father (after all he had issues). Then father fell into coma and he came to power, but company fell into jeopardy. Then she changed stepson's meds. Used stepson to chase the elder of the family abroad. Doing all that they were still caught, he found out that it was her who harmed him and she was caught for other things and also harming him. In the end no one got a good ending. And all of it also was published in press. Also forgto to mention, when many things didn't work and stepson wanted to use her ex-husband as a threat to RX (after all she looked for him), she also wanted to reunite with him, after all RX became a star and earned money so she dreamed of becomin an aganet. But as a reader her means are so low-level and her dreams are too big for her brain. RX reunited with her biological father and grandma and they were fine.

ARC 10: The concubine who was a shield. I got tired of looking at another ancient plane. By what I read in last chapters the situation was as follows. RX was a beloved concubine, but was a shield for her little maid, who used her position to legitimately become a concubine, but she fell in love with emperor long ago. She was also RX's half-sister, born to her mother and father of RX. RX's mother died in childbirth, but her father never re-married. He also pushed RX into the fire pit. When she was accused and sent away her little maid told her everything. Anyway RX relied on her grandfather to lead a way and overthrow the emperor in the end, because it was proven he killed his own children who were half on their way to be born just becase his sweetheart told him. She became Crown Princess, the only arc where RX is pregnant btw and also OG RX has a partner who is from emperor's family. Then she helped many women with their dire situations in the backhouse and her fame spread. She was fair to men and women. her daughter became a ruler eventually, they change dthis world a lot when it came to women and helped all the ex-concubines too to find their footing.

ARC 11: Only interstellar. And also swapping babies story. OG RX had good aptitude, but her mother concealed it, she also used backdoor to get her into college, during mission she was plotted against by her bf and her friend who is the biological daughter of her mother. She was sent to garbage star due to unfavorable footage during the mission. She started her life on garbage star, magically used ore to change the mecha (like the technology of it is of course too convenient) which attracted military where a great general served, who was also a target of the girl she was swapped with. She also used everything like cultivation, don't ask, which allowed her to return her prior physique (this society is divided into classes and f-physique is sent to garbage star no matter what lol). RX had many plans for this place and improved life of people here eventually, her improved idea for mecha and evollution pill attracted attention so she used it to bring attention to her situation and her case was re-trialed. Her biological parents also knew the situation and wanted to reunite. They did not leave the swapped child because they knew what insidious things she did. So her ex who cheated her, this swapped girl and her adoptive mother all ended up badly. She was a great person and reunited with her family and also joined army eventually and became a great figure, then she became couple with that general after RX left.

ARC 12: Another skipped arc. It has metaphysics, but the story is of an ex who cheated RX into a secret marriage with a ghost, her vitality was consumed in a month and she died, also her grandma she cared about died unfairly too. So everyone by the end of it all treated her as a person sent by fate the rectify the metaphysics world, because the one who originally used the spell on the proposal ring sent to RX is a "righteous master", very famous. But nothing exciting to me and nothing new. So bad guys did a lot of gruesome stuff and were caught and brought to justice, bringing a new era of metaphysics.

ARC 13: Have you noticed? Despite my descriptions of it all I started to get tired completely of this story. Next arc is titles Internted writer whose life was stolen by a scumbag. By the things I read in consequent arcs it seems that here someone had a golden finger and could steal her work and she countered that. I had no desire to find out.

ARC 14: This one is a return to 70's. Here an unloved daughter who failed to get into college because she slipped and broke her leg had became a target of a returned soldier who became a police deputy director. he met her in secrecy so no one knew they met, so when she took care of his children (the dude is divorced and 10 years older) the kids were instigated by their mother who returned to sabotage RX. She was also talked about when with his sophistry the man said that he felt sad about her situation but the relationship is her delusion etc. She was also killed but framed as suicide. RX basically reported this guy because she felt it was fishy how he was promoted so fast, also made everyone witnessed that they were partners, then everyone saw this scumbag behavior, then he was investigated, then he was caught with his ex-wife when they attempted to murder RX, so both met their end. Entire village knew about his deeds and also RX's original family was not spared because everyone saw how they wanted to force the girl into marriage and be stepmother at 17 and then distanced themselves and also kicked RX. RX travelled to other places with her mother when she got into university.

ARC 15: Braindead story about the "son of luck" who used his childhoos fiance as a shield. He was basically a dude who knew nothing, grew up under the roof of his neighbors because both families were friends but almost everyone died in a car accident, so only one father and two kids were left. The dude grew up rebellios and one day disappeared, then he appeared all rich and famous, but used his childhood girl as a shield for other women to hate, so she was retalliated a lot. Senseless stallion novel. RX used means to basically drain his luck, because the guy knew nothing about business, he only had "intuition". But she used the state as her backer, I think it's in this arc she used interstellar knowledge to become a big shot and disappeared completely with her father. The guy was furious because he was also very inferior in his bones, other women kneeled in front of him but RX never would do it. In the end his ill gains were discovered, he went in. he also retaliated aganst all women who left him.

What is illogical to me is that this dude is said to be only 18 and disappeared like at 15, who will trust a teenager? He is said to be a genius, everyne flocks towards him, it really has such a bad and tacky taste lol He may be good at investing but the whole story just felt meh. Like have you nothing to write about?

ARC 16: Are you tired reading? I'm tired typing. I think I've spent already three hours on typing this. Let's continue. In this arc OG RX supported her childhood friend to stardom, he had no idea that her family is rich, they just covered it up a lot, but she used to be a station sister and also used her skills and money to promote him, then he became famous and confessed he used her, it irritated her and she decided to expose him but had no bigger evidence and his fans attacked her for her looks. Then she was killed by one of his fans. because of the path RX chose for OG RX in this world they inevitably clashed with her ex. First she found and sued the fan who pushed her into water. Then she changed targets and became an agent, she chose talented but either not popular or mistreated artists, slowly her artists gained popularity and it became public that she was behind the scenes and no matter how her ex tried to "smartly" stir trouble RX had lifetimes of experience in worlds and not to mentione entertainment industry. Se his popularity declined with her accurate attacks of his lack of talent etc. not to mention misconduct. She became free and easy big boss who dated and broke up if she felt like it.

ARC 17: Second to last arc. This is cultivation one that connect to last arc too. Here RX was a substitute for the junior sister, she was tricked into joining the sect and they trained her to become similar to the dead junior sister. So her aptitude was empty and she was like a canary in the sect, but then someone told her and her struggle was futile, she was threatened with her mortal parents. Then the junior sister returned and they even used RX for marrow etc. Now RX escaped from the very beginning, took her parents into secret realm where the "junior sister" was. She changed herself and changed the fate of her mother and father, three became cultivators. They spent a lot of time in this place getting a lot of loot. When they came out the travelled and brought the junior sister with them. They witnessed several injustices and plotting. So they witnessed a lot of "righteous" path people doing evil. They also helped those in need and let them join, so those were mosnters, cultivators and others. They always left a flower on the scene. The junior sister made a bet with RX that if it's a misunderstanding then it's fine, but if she's right then we'll see then. She had the chance to find out when she pretended to be RX, but was treated badly and saw the true face of her senior brothers and master. Righteous way was afraid of growing power of RX's sect, but again and again RX proved that "righteous way" has some insidious means, while her sect subverted everyone's opinion about them by helping and doing the right thing. Junior sister decided not to join any sect, everyone already thought she was dead and she practiced the ruthless way, this is where RX found out that ruthless way is different and she also thought about her "husband" who killed her. She also thought about her situation differently and had no more such overpowering hatred. Here she also found out that her system is a treasure from her realm (but it also became a secret place in this arc) and it became her natal weapon. So in this world RX grew her sect that welcomed everyone and showed what does it mean to be not only righteous but just fair. Then she returned to her own world.

And then it's the last arc which I already explained in the very beginning. So Rong Xuan is the biggest chosen one who went through all of this.

This is why I say the "son of luck" in the original summary should not work. When it comes to the way of Heaven it's like a chosen one, but how can he be the son of luck when she's the chosen one.

Again, this is why it felt tedious, the arcs were relatively short but there were times when info dump was spread to 2-3 chapters to cover the last life. Then many family situations are the same, they are bad, to make it feel okay no matter what shit RX is doing. Almost everyone goes through public shaming in all arcs. It also feels unreal, not everyone will remember for decades the passing events, especially in great details, just look at the modern days and you'll see this effect too. I don't say the don't deserve this, but I find it ironic, when she is called open-minded when she does some crazy shit. For example the arc where she pushed he rmother under the stepson, I can see why she did it, because OG RX was raped and beaten and her mother talked her into reconciling again and again before it was too late, while her mother also lived prosperous life, I can understand she wanted to let OG RX see the mother she hates so much go through the same. But the kid? My attention was brought to the kid. I think it was too much to make her pregnant. Imagine the life of this kid, what did it do to RX? She could easily not do it.

The final arc was not enough for me to forget all that crazy stuff that happened.

The healing part that should be interesting may be attractive to others, it's indeed one decent thing about it. But honestly speaking the part where stories felt similar was overpowering. We just concentrate on dealing with the current situation, a lot of it is all coincidental and convenient, everything moves according to calculations of RX because girl knows psychology and is good at tactics. A lot of stuff is also not new let's admit it and author did not bring a lot of new stuff to the table.

Why do I feel like I keep nagging, but I actually do.

Others might find it great, but I still feel like it rubbed me the wrong way, but I refuse to dig deeper.

RATE: 3/5. Just take it, it's the best I can score. If there are typos please let it pass in front of your eyes like a speck of dust, unnoticed.

[Chinese BG novel] 天生甜宠命[快穿] by 露深 / Born to be a sweet lover

Summary: QiLuo is a demon who feeds on love, but she lost her love thread during her cultivation. To continue cultivate she made agreement with wishers and in their stead she will be able to cultivate while falling in love with someone with pure feelings and the wishers, who still believe in love will be able to experience the true love.

ML is different in each new world.

I hope I explained the premise of this story in such a way that you won't look down on QiLuo. The thing is, in the abundance of stories where FMCs are quite egoistic when it comes to love or to their career, QiLuo's source of cultivation is love from her partner and even if she says many times that she can't understand love since her own love thread was lost, it doesn't mean she's indifferent or she plays with feelings. She conveys many times that she wants to be the best partner to answer that pure love she gets. This is her goal and this is why she doesn't chase anything.

And mostly this is why this story is so calm and peaceful.

The main premise of those worlds are stories of love-minded girls, who basically ruined their lives for people they loved, but the broken heart did not break their belief in love. Their wish often concerns their relatives and close ones, but also the wish to feel true love.

Because QiLuo is a demon who feeds on love she can see the love thread and those are like color-coded. The purest one is pinks and the deep love is deep red. If it is any other color it can mean betrayal, selfishness, love that is mixed with other things. This is why she is able to choose people who can truly love her.

This is almost like a "pet" story where everyone loves the FMC. She is indeed lovable, her demon power enhances her beauty, but in general she sounds like a bit stereotypical kind of girl.

The sories are nothing more than just the daily life, falling in love and then it is over. It is very peaceful and actually lovely if I'm being honest. I kind of liked the writing style, everything felt lovely.

I finished the first part (since there is a second part with only 3 worlds which I skipped through) and I must say, although I loved the style and thought I could read it for a long time, but I admit that the number of chapters (115) was enough not to get bored of this style.

The biggest coolest thing is that QiLuo does not absorb the love power and just stays like that, she actully gives away the purified power back, so her partners might get a cure or she supports their health etc.

The biggest criticism from me was that QiLuo's character sometimes felt like it's not the same person. Also the background story behind her cultivation felt like it changed from initial idea, like there is an episode during the first arc that might have been an idea for something more but it doesn't become anything. Sometimes QiLuo sets on person who is closest to her, very lucky, since if she chooses a wrong person she will perish. But sometimes it felt like she was more playful in her hooking of the other person, this is why that sometimes she felt inconsistent.

Arc 1. Gentle school beauty. A university beauty, Qiluo is a girl who was cheated on by her first boyfriend. She meets ML who comes from school next door on her way back, she is hit with the ball. This is how they meet and get closer together. She also explained that she had a relationship before him, so he won't hear it from others. It's a university fall in in love type of story and because how it was written this is why I started reading it in the first place and liked it so much, because it's simple and lovely. The only arc where there were so many kids btw (QiLuo was curios) and also the only that showed old age. Plus after they died the guy wanted to sacrifice his love thred, but QiLuo seemed to return it in extras.

Arc 2. Beauty from the 70s. Qiluo is an adopted daughter, her parents were martyrs. She chose a wrong guy on the blind date and her life was basically ruined and she died young since her husband came from countryside and she worked herself to death, OG had health issues. Now QiLuo chose another blind date and they lived peacefully together, she also went to college to learn medicine. Again she does something the original host wanted to do, so she doesn't deviate much.

Arc 3. Rich lady. QiLuo is now a married woman, she has no idea if she can fall in love with her own husband. The person who cheated on her is a guy she was introduced to, who knew she was wealthy and also had a company, so she concentrated a lot of resources on him, while the guy was cheating on her with a woman who introduced the two. She also got her family into trouble because she cause a havoc with her husband. Now she knew that her husband (who is now blind btw) is a good person and there was a situation the OG did not understand, that her own family was framed this is why they lost all their wealth. But now she was together with this husband, also helped him to get better and get his vision back. They were a happy family.

Arc 4. Doomsday soft girl. Original was betrayed by her boyfriend and exchanged for resources in the last days. She met a guy who took her out. Although he acted badly at first, but he never forced her, although he talked a bit dirty. He was also quite resourceful and together they went through cities and arrived at the base, don't think there is anything happening more than it is, the overall idea is that things started to get better, they were together and happy and the arc ended just like that with no common conclusion that involves the description how apocalypse ended etc.

Arc 5. Little Dragon Girl. Original host was a last descendant of white dragons of the north, but she fell in love with heavenly prince and became a concubine, making the last descendants extinct. Now she cultivated with the blue dragon from the East, who slowly fell in love with her. They were together for centuries during cultivation and then went their own ways because each had a mission. Ao Yu had to perform unification, since after the last battle between Immortals and Demons the qi of the lower realm decreased a lot. And QiLuo was supposed to open the energy vein under the deepest ice of their territory to also release the power. This arc has a little of fake marriage moment that very soon develops into true love.

Arc 6. Lost rich girl. Yell a story of a beast world. Honestly I mostly skipped this one because these stories are too similar to each other and there is nothing new. Again this one ends abruptly after describing a bit of their changes in life. But the beginning sounds liek this. An orphan girl who is rich is approached by a guy, he wanted to startle her during trip and make her dependant on him, but she died. Now QiLuo was the one who moved back and the guy got into trouble. But she met ML on her way, he is a python and she is afraid of snakes. Anyway it's again everyday life, and finding food that can be eaten and changing their primitive life.

I haven't read the extras.

In general it's just short and sweet.

RATE: 4/5.